The Bulls have let go of Jaden Ivey following anti-LGBTQ comments on social media.
Chicago announced Monday that it waived the 24-year-old guard for “conduct detrimental to the team.” The Chicago Sun-Times first reported Monday that the Bulls were working with the league to find an exit strategy for Ivey.
Over the last four days, Ivey posted three lengthy rants on Instagram about an array of religious and moral topics, from sexuality, abortion, and murder. In his third livestream Monday, Ivey made comments about the NBA’s decision to celebrate the LGBTQ community.
“The world proclaims LGBTQ, right?” Ivey said. “They proclaim Pride Month in the NBA. They proclaim it. They show it to the world. They say, ‘Come join us for Pride Month, to celebrate unrighteousness.'”
This isn’t the first time Ivey has gone viral for troubling comments on social media. Last year, Ivey admitted that he had dealt with significant trauma from his childhood.
“I definitely was sexually abused as a kid,” Ivey told Sports Spectrum, a podcast connecting sports and religion.
“As I continued to grow as a man, I was trying to fill a void. I slept with women, I tried drinking alcohol, I tried going out to party. … I didn’t necessarily feel love before.”
With Ivey out in Chicago, the basketball career of the once-promising prospect is now in question.
The Pistons selected Ivey with the No. 5 pick in 2022 after a strong two-year run at Purdue. He was expected to be a backcourt partner of 2020 No. 1 pick Cade Cunningham, but injuries derailed Ivey in recent years, and he fell out of Detroit’s long-term plans.
Chicago acquired Ivey via trade in February from the Pistons, but he played just four games due to a sore left knee. On Thursday, the same day he posted his first video, the Bulls announced that he would be shut down for the rest of the season.
Ivey was in the final year of his rookie contract: a four-year, $32.9 million deal. He would have been a restricted free agent this summer.
